March 12, 2006 EXTENSIVE IMAGE LIBRARY It’s been a long road for the Osprey but the aircraft first conceived several decades ago as being uniquely suitable for a wide range of military applications is finally being readied for the battlefront. The first combat-configured CV-22 Osprey left Bell Helicopter in Texas earlier this month and can expected to see action in Iraq and Afghanistan within months, most likely in transporting special operations teams and their gear into and out of action. The Osprey CV-22 converts between airplane and helicopter modes and is twice as fast as any previous VTOL aircraft, but also has significantly enhanced survivability and five times the range, offering operational flexibility beyond its most obvious in delivering specialist military capability to the exact point it is required and retrieving it afterwards.